Of
the 58,000 ConsumerReports.org readers surveyed,
AT&T received the lowest customer satisfaction score and was the
only carrier to drop significantly. Of the AT&T respondents, more
than half were iPhone users. According to the survey, they were "much
less satisfied with their carrier and rated data service (Web and
e-mail lower than owners of smartphones on other carriers."

These
findings mirror those of an earlier
study by Deloitte, which found that nearly half of all current
iPhone users would be interested in switching to a Verizon iteration
of the device, mostly due to overwhelming dissatisfaction with AT&T.

“Our
survey suggests that an iPhone from Verizon Wireless, which
is rumored, could indeed be good news for iPhone fans,” said
Paul Reynolds, Electronics Editor for Consumer
Reports.

Some
other interesting findings of the CR survey:

-
U.S. Cellular, in a major coup, overcame Verizon Wireless as the
top-rated wireless provider for contract service.

-
Sprint, in "a remarkable turnaround," scored higher than
Verizon -- the de facto leader in overall satisfaction since 2003 --
in some aspects, and pulled even with Big Red overall.